The Seventy

Elizabeth M. Hoster
July 8, 2007

The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" Jesus said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

The ninth and tenth chapter of Luke is full of events and imagery and statements that make us uncomfortable. I’m willing to bet the disciples were uncomfortable, too. The disciples can’t get it right: they can’t cast demons out of a boy, and they try to discredit someone who is healing people. Then three people say they want to follow Jesus, and are turned away because of need for shelter, responsibility to the dead and to the living. There are demons and rejections, some "woe unto you" talk, what looks like the commissioning of a whole congregation after the disciple’s failures, followed by more healing an demon casting.

Where we join Jesus and his followers this morning, clearly, the work of the Kingdom is NOT going to get done with just the 12! So Jesus commissions the 70. They do what Jesus tells them, which are basically a whole set of guidelines to assure they get connected to the community they find themselves welcomed in.

They then come back totally surprised at what happened– Lord, in your name, even the demons submit to us! And Jesus replies, "I watched Satan fall like lightening. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

We don’t like to talk much about demons, or the devil, or satan, or the enemy, or whatever you prefer to call evil. It’s unseemly, right? Many of us may not really even believe that there is such a thing. It would make us sounds superstitious, fearful, ignorant-- certainly not very rational or reasonable, and isn’t reason a cornerstone of our faith?

And yet, evil exists.

We’ve got to walk a fine line here: too much belief , or rather, giving too much power, to evil results in a dualism, a ditheism: it makes evil as powerful as God, and us so fearful that we cannot enjoy God’s goodness. Too little acknowledgement of evil as a spiritual force, or reduction of it to a scientific explanation, makes it awfully easy to fall into it.

Anglican theologian John Macquarrie finds the balance, stating that Evil cannot create anything on its own–it can only attempt to injure what is created by God. It is the slipping back toward nothingness, a reversal of the positive, affirmative tendency toward being.

Some evil is easier to acknowledge than others. Cars full of nails and explosives are found in a busy city. Suicide bombers destroy themselves for the sake of destroying others. And now we wait as people trained to heal are suspected for plotting great harm. We look at a situation we cannot do anything about, and say, "that’s evil!" We turn and look at that evil and name it.

Meanwhile, other demons, demons that we can drive out, are thriving. We know what they are: hunger, pestilence, ignorance, the list goes on. In 2000, the United Nations listed the Mellenium Development Goals. They are no less than a mission statement to drive some demons out of this world.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Hunger, Ignorance, prejudice, premature death, illness, global warming, and impoverished nations: These are the demons we are asked to cast out of this world–by 2015. Meeting these goals will require a great change in the mindsets and budgets of our nation, our state–and yes, budget of this church–we can’t just up what we give the outreach committee by a few thousand dollars. It will require a complete change of priorities.

We could give up, and be cynical, or we could go out as Jesus tells us, follow what he says, then respond with surprise and joy.

So....what if this dear, rational group gathered here this morning took this Gospel literally?? Yes, I am asking a church full of Episcopalians to take a Gospel about demons literally, claim it in the present, and take it into the future.

Here’s a scenario for you: Jesus is totally exasperated with the smaller group of followers who have made this their lifetime work, namely, the clergy. So he turns to you–the over 70 of you, and commissions you. He gives you instructions to not go it alone, to stay in the village where you are welcomed, and become a part of the community.

Fast forward to seven and a half years from now: It is 2015, you all gather back here. There is still work to be done, but the world has turned a corner–and a small corner of the world has changed thanks to you. Yes, you are still feeding the poor right here in Charleston. But you are also in partnership with a village somewhere in Africa or Central America. Actually, thanks to the people of Saint John’s, the whole city of Charleston is in partnership with a village.

The village now has more food and better farming techniques, mosquito nets to help prevent malaria, and a cottage industry that is getting international attention. Members of the medical community have sponsored several medical missions, and the village has more AIDS treatment, more education about prevention, and more pre-natal care. The school has a roof, and both boys and girls are learning–and more children are living to GET that education.

And in the process, a few of OUR demons have been driven out: hopelessness, cynicism, and apathy. Nothing drives out apathy like joy and surprise. You didn’t know that you could be such an instrument for the kingdom of God.

And all of you gather to report, and celebrate, and encourage each other. You all return with joy, saying, Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!

Jesus then says to you, I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on the snakes and scorpions that poison and kill my beloved creation: I have given you authority and the means to cast out hunger, fear, illness, injustice, and oppression, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.

Nevertheless, Jesus says, do not rejoice at this, that these evils submit to you, but rejoice, you have done God’s work. Rejoice, for your names are written in heaven.